The metazoan food webs from six Bornean Nepenthes species

Abstract.

• 1 Two contrasting hypotheses concerning patterns in food web structure within pitchers of Nepenthes are tested using new information from six species of Nepenthes from Borneo.
• 2 In general, predictions that webs will be more complex, and the food chains they contain will be longer, the closer they are to the centre of Nepenthes species diversity, are supported.
• 3 For Nepenthes albomarginata, a widespread species with a distinctive north Bornean form, a contrasting pattern is evident explicable in terms of the morphology of the pitchers and local habitat preferences.
• 4 General explanations for food web patterns will always be susceptible to exception, reflecting nuances of natural history.